Presented on September 16, 1985 at Quarry Farm. Hamlin Hill is a Professor of English at University of New Mexico. His books include Mark Twain's God's Fool (1975) and America's Humor: From Poor Richard to Doonesbury (1978), written with Walter Blair.
Mark Twain, we sometimes forget, was the greatest invention of Samuel Clemens - a fictional creature with many different guises and disguises. Among the most memorable masks are those of the clown, the Westerner, the crackerbarrel philosopher, and the cynic; each of these 'faces' projects a fictional stance and, at the same time, a part of the essential character of Mark Twain.